I ended up LOVING Booneville, MO! Missouri?! Who would've thought? Anyway, I wanted to get some extra cash this morning at 7'ish, and the ATM was down this alley. (shrug)
RoadsideAmerica stop #19 - 'The Awakening' in Chesterfield, MO. Ok, just when I thought I'd had all of the statues I could take...I visited this one. HOW COOL IS THIS?!? It's a giant coming out of the ground! The only problem is that by the time I got there, the statue was HOT, so I couldn't take all of the goofy pictures that I would have like to. But I still managed to get some.
I was trying to make an angry 'awakening' face like the giant.
Picking his nose...
RoadsideAmerica stop #20 - Haunted Lemke Mansion in St. Louis, MO. I had a ton of options in St. Louis and had to make some decisions. The two big visits were the Budweiser Brewery tour, or...this. (My thinking was that I don't like Budweiser, so although it was probably super cool, it wouldn't have been as cool as a haunted mansion.) Well, this was pretty much a bust. They were serving lunch while I was there, no tours, and a lame gift shop. A waiter came over to talk to me, and I guess the one cool thing is that they don't capitalize on the ghosts, but they do own up to them. Kind of like, 'yeah, we're haunted, so what?' On Tuesdays they do an evening walk through with some ghost hunters, and the waiter said people have run out crying. This is the public restroom, and that is a bathtub smack dab in the middle of it. Tell me if you see any orbs.
RoadsideAmerica 'stop' #21 - Big Unloved Indian statue in St. Louis, MO. I'm going to call this one a 'stop' because I WAS at a red light... Parking meters everywhere, and I didn't think it was worth pulling over for. Apparently everyone - including the artist - thinks this is an ugly statue.
Ok, so I wanted to get some smashed pennies. My first try was at Union Station, but you had to pay for parking, and I didn't want to pay to spend my vacation walking around a MALL. So I thought, let's just knock out the Arch. I've been in the bottom, but never taken the elevator ride up, and who knows when I'll get the chance again? Well, it didn't happen today! It turned into the scene from "European Vacation", when Chevy Chase can't get out of the traffic circle? Traffic was really not that bad, but I missed parking the first go-around, and then it didn't seem worth it to me.
RoadsideAmerica stop #22 - National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, IL. I stopped here because (according the RoadsideAmerica) you could type in prayer requests and they would be electronically transmitted to heaven. Talked to an old priest, and you used to be able to do this! They built a lit spire several years ago on top of the grotto to encourage prayer, and yes, you could type prayers. At this point, the priest wanted to make sure that I understood that this was symbolic -they didn't REALLY have an internect connection with God. Anyway, because of the height, the FAA made them turn off the lights, which kind of took the fun out of sending up the prayers. He blessed me for my trip. I then ate in their cafeteria, thinking it would be a nice, reflective place - nope, it was like Disneyland. But the food was good.
RoadsideAmerica stop #23 - Road Sign Art AND mini Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon, IL. Crazy mess of road signs. There was a woman who was OBVIOUSLY not used to taking pictures of herself, so I offered to take one for her. We got to talking. She was there on business. She asked how much further I planned on driving today? I mean, it kind of sounded like she was asking me to hang out! But it was only 3 in the afternoon; I needed to get some more miles in.
See, look how tiny it is!
RoadsideAmerica stop #24 - Tree Head, Paducah, KY. I'm calling these things what they were labeled as on RoadsideAmerica, not their official names. So I drive around this city park and finally stop at the public pool to ask where the 'tree head' is? They looked at me like I was crazy, and then realized I must be talking about Chief So-and-So (that's not what it's real name is, either).
I'm sure this is on RoadsideAmerica, but I'm not going to give them credit for it! Stopped in Metropolis, IL and took the obligatory picture with Superman. ALMOST bought a t-shirt.
RoadsideAmerica stop #25 - Edgar Cayce's grave in Hopkinsville, KY. Edgar Cayce is called the father of holistic medicine, and founded ARE. I don't know the significance of the pennies on the top of the tombstone, but I added one so I didn't miss out on anything.
Staying in a chain tonight which I'm not excited about, and USING A HANDICAPPED PARKING SPACE which I am REALLY not excited about!!! But the next closest space was at the other end of the building, and I've got a month's worth of crap in my car. I warned the guy at the counter that I was doing it, and he just laughed. I don't think I've ever parked in a handicapped space before. Seriously.
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